Tag Archives: Games

So you want to write a video game?

I happened upon a tweet that mentioned a 50 step “how to make a C64 game” series so I searched and found this page. There’s now 52 steps and it’s still being worked on!

If modern platforms are more your thing then check out this playlist by RedReaper132 on Youtube. It’s a good series to learn about SDL and OpenGL. He keeps things simple but covers the basics of game development; setting up an IDE and compiler, game loops and events, collision detection and more.

Once you’ve watched and digested those, look at this SDL game framework series by Tim Jones. The code in these tutorials is more complicated as the author uses classes, virtual functions and other features of C++. It’s not as accessible as the YT videos but when you get to tutorials like this entities one you’ll appreciate the thought put into the code layout.

Me? I’d like to do a version of Arkanoid 2..

A disappointing Syndicate

It was to be expected. The new remake of Syndicate isn’t going down well with reviewers. You’re better off with the original version where you can enjoy hours of fun with a minigun or whatever you’re having. Who needs tactics? Just send all your guys in and mow down all the baddies! (Except in the Atlantic Accelerator where you need lasers but that’s another story..)

Ghosts ‘n Goblins is much easier..

Games are a hell of a lot easier when they’re trained! Ghosts ‘n Goblins was one of the first games I dived into to see how it worked back in the day. Earlier I played a remix of it’s soundtrack and fired up the game afterwards. I remembered it was hard but compared to games today it’s a demon!

Luckily it was trained and my son and I had an enjoyable half hour shooting the baddies and jumping from platform to platform. I wish the compatible joysticks from back then had more than one button, left/right and up to diagonal jump is a PITA!

In case you’re wondering, a trained game is where the game has been hacked and various cheats added. Usually a fancy intro with swirling graphics and music is added at the start and the group that has hacked the game give you the option of adding infinite lives, time, invulnerability or whatever suits the games. Practically every C64 game you’ll find online has these features now. 🙂

Can’t login to Games for Windows Live?

I changed my Xbox Live password recently and found I couldn’t login to GFWL this evening. “No problem”, I thought. Just change the password to my new one.

No, I can’t change the password. I can select the password field. It’s active, I can move the cursor back and forward but I can’t type or delete the * characters.

Luckily it was a simple, if non obvious, fix to get around this. Uncheck the “Save my e-mail address and password” and “Sign me in automatically” checkboxes. Now you can select the password field and change it. Don’t forget to “remember” the password again..

Yes, Games for Windows Live is a POS.

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